STEVEN TAYLOR has been told he will have to fight to win his place back in Newcastle United’s starting XI.

The home-grown defender must find a way past in-form defensive duo Fabricio Coloccini and Mike Williamson who are almost certain to start against Bolton Wanderers.

Both face the formidable threat Kevin Davies – but the pair have worked magnificently in the last two away games at Blackburn and Bolton.

Williamson coped with the threat of big defender Christopher Samba, who is in an integral part of Blackburn’s play from set pieces, and then Serbian giant Nikola Zigic in the super victory at Birmingham.

Two clean sheets and 225 minutes without conceding a goal mean Taylor faces a tough task to win back his place.

Pardew told the Chronicle: “Steven knows he has to wait.

“Willo had to wait for his turn when it was the other way round and he’s come back in well.

“Steven was in the team when I came and he was playing well, but there was no chance for Steven to just walk back in unless Willo’s form dipped.”

Taylor has been missing since damaging his hamstring last month and has not appeared since the 5-0 dusting of West Ham.

Pardew – who has been working with his defenders in individual sessions – wants his side to pride themselves on clean sheets.

And he also wants to avoid a repeat of that 26-minute spell against Arsenal.

The Londoner said: “Our clean sheet record is getting better, and defensively we’ve been tight.

“Other than Arsenal we have been tight. That was 45 minutes where we lost focus, but other than that we have been strong and I have been pleased with the defenders.

“We have Steven Taylor available on Saturday and it adds to our armoury.”

But it will be the threat of big striker Davies, who won an England cap this season, that will need to be addressed by Pardew’s troops.

Davies has committed over 1,000 fouls in his Bolton career, but Pardew wants his players to respect him.